Chapter Text
Tom and Sabine watched as Marinette transformed into Ladybug. It was unbelievable, the girl who was saving paris, the one who everybody admired and looked up to, the whole time, it was THEIR daughter. They were star-struck, unable to move or say anything. They thought about all the times she had to fight her family and friends while they were akumatized. It must have been heart-breaking to see your loved ones like that.
Ladybug just stood there, feigning confidence. Her parents were scared, somebody had just come into their home. Somebody was monitoring her family. They must have been doing so for quite some time. How else would they know about her mother's birthday? How would they know so much about Uncle Wang, enough to fool her parents into believing their act? And that someone was either a super villain akumatized by the butterfly miraculous holder, or it was THE butterfly miraculous holder. Whoever it was, they had come so close to her family, and she had to protect them. By telling them the truth. At least partially. The secret identity that she had been hiding from them for so long, for their own safety, now she HAD to tell them. They were in danger. And it was her fault. She failed them.
She wished they would say something. Anything! Her eyes pleading, her confident facade slipping. "How…." Tom started slowly. Sabine gently squeezed his hand, and moved towards her daughter, encasing her in a hug. Her husband followed suit.
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault. I never wanted to involve any of you in this" Marinette said slowly, tears welling up in her eyes. Her parents just tightened the embrace. "My protocols, they were supposed to…. I was supposed to… I should have been more careful I'm sorry" She was sobbing at this point, tears streaming down, her hair had come loose.
They were all still shocked, sitting on the sofa, wondering what to do, wondering how it had come to this. Marinette's phone was ringing, It was Alya. Tikki urged her to pick it up, to talk.
"Girl where are you? Are you running late again?"
"My uncle is in Shanghai"
"What?"
"Alya my uncle is in Shanghai, I dont know who was at our home. They gave me a Ladybug earing. LADYBUG!"
"Girl calm down.I'll come there, we can talk. I'll tell Nino and Adrien something, I'll manage. You be right there. I- I'm comi–"
"Alya the person pretending to be my Uncle has our house keys. They never returned it. I don't- I don't think it's safe for us to stay here anymore"
"Okay, okay. Yes. I'll send Nino and Adrien home, I'll wait for you outside school. Be careful"
She switches off the phone and turns to her still shocked parents, who were sitting close by, holding a vibrating phone in their hand. Fei had been calling them constantly, but they were in no mood.
"Mom, Dad. We have to go, we can't stay here"
Tom stood up, embracing his wife and daughter. "We're sorry we never noticed". His wife continued "I can't imagine the burden you've been bearing alone this whole time. Dont worry sweetie, we know now and we will help you however we can". "Yes, we will be strong, we will show them that the Dupain-Cheng's are not to be messed with"
Alya ran up to them, almost tripping over the stairs. She jumped on her best friend, wrapping her in an embrace. Then they walked together inside in silence, down to the basement, where Marinette's parents were sitting, looking sickly pale.
After a lot of back and forth discussion, they decided to stay under the city hall, near the meet up area of team miraculous. Nobody knew about that place except the miraculous holders, and Ladybug had taken all precautions to keep that place safe and untraceable. They sneakily headed there, with Rena-Rouge's illusion hiding them. Then they set up the place to make it comfortable enough to live in, and brought important stuff from the bakery. It was getting late, so Alya headed back to her home. Marinette transformed and headed to her room to get all her diaries. She didn't want Alya to see them.
"Spots off"
Marinette jumped down her bed, gathering all her diaries. She tried to find a bag big enough to fit them all in, but there were simply too many. So she grabs a spare bed sheet, ties them all up in it, and heads off to the Eiffel tower, where she was supposed to meet Chat noir.
When Chat noir arrived, he saw ladybug standing against the railings, staring in the direction of the City hall, with what looked like a pile of books at her feet.
He ignored it, wondering why she had asked to meet him suddenly, and at the Eiffel tower? That's not where they met usually. Was it because he didn't pay attention to her instructions? Or something regarding the protocols perhaps?
"Ladybug, I'm sorry. Seeing Marinette in danger really freaked me out! I lo- I mean, I've known her for a long time and we're…. really good friends, so I kinda panicked. But hey we did defeat–" He stopped talking when he heard her sniffle.
He walked up to her and turned her around "Hey what's wrong?"
"There's something I need to tell you Chat"
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it M'lady" he said, plopping down and sitting cross legged, gesturing her to sit beside him. Ladybug followed suit.
There was a heavy silence between them for a long time. Suddenly, Ladybug spoke, "I think the new butterfly holder knows I'm ladybug. or they suspect it"
Chat whipped his head in her direction. "Are you sure? I mean what? How? We were so careful, especially you!"